Police: teen made school-shooting threats as prank

Monday, August 18, 2014

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy arrested Sunday on suspicion of posting online threats to shoot students at Southern California schools apparently did so as a prank, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

The teen, who was arrested after investigators served a search warrant at his home, wrote the posts to get a reaction from his friends, officials said.

The suspect "actually had no intention of carrying out these threats," Deputy Joshua Dubin said at a news conference. "We still take it very seriously."

Detectives began investigating the threats late Saturday after receiving more than two dozen phone calls about posts on Instagram from someone threatening to shoot high school students on an unspecified date, authorities said.

The posts, which have since been removed, included photos of guns, dead bodies and a sign for a Valencia High School, Lt. Brenda Cambra said. However, the sign was from a school with the same name in another state, she said.

"Valencia High School has been nominated to be shot up first," one post read, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The gun photos were stock photos from the Internet, Cambra said.

No weapons were found during a search of the home, Dubin said.

The posts included threats against women and minorities, authorities said.